Places you can find me

Sunday, July 21, 2013

* Article about the amazing Holterman photo collection and it's rediscovery in a Sydney Shed"Discovered by chance in a garden shed in suburban Sydney after being lost for more than half a century, the Holtermann collection is Australia's most internationally significant historical photographic archive. Taken between 1870 and 1875, the collection of 3,500 glass plate negatives has recently been digitised by the State Library of NSW, unlocking fascinating stories hitherto hidden in the blurry background. Capturing nineteenth century Australia with extraordinary precision, the photos document life in gold rush towns such as Ballarat, Victoria and Hill End, NSW. Spectacular promotional shots of Sydney and Melbourne also feature alongside portraits of Australian citizens. Viewing the collection you are taken into their world."
These are fantastic. When you look at them on the computer you can see so much detail. Loads of photos of Hill End in the collection. Including one of our cottage.

* Pin up girl clothing. I can't afford this stuff but it's reasonably priced and I love the look. Wish I could try some stuff on. I don't like dresses and skirts and all but I'd love to see what these look like on. They are gorgeous.

* The High Cost Of Cheap Food. Great article about food security, ethical food and how the big supermarkets are screwing people over. Often ethical food is placed too far down the list of spending priorities. I'd rather eat free range and chemical free than go to see a movie. I prioritize my health an animal welfare above expensive clothes and the newest electronics. We get very little money a week between us but we buy local, ethical and as chemical free as we can.

* The Mudgee Project Mudgee is a town near(ish) to us. They are known for wine and honey. We shop their occasionally but with our doctors, hydo, more gluten free options and later shop opening hours, we tend to go to Bathurst much more often. This project is a photographer taking a photo of Mudgee once a week for a year. It's a stunning collection of photos. I couldn't make it to the exhibition as I had pneumonia but you can still look at the photos online.

* Easy Chain Stitch post on Sublime Stitching "The "chain stitch" is the one everyone has heard of, but hates to do. Why? Because it's laborious. It doesn't always come out nicely and it uses up a lot of floss. But, chain stitches create a nice thick, textured line. It's one of the most embroidery-ish embroidery stitches there is. This technique will guarantee they always come out perfectly."
I'd actually started doing them this way myself because I couldn't get the other way to look right. It's good information to have.

* How Fast Is The NBN This page shows in real time the difference between what Labor are going to implement (fibre to premises) and what the Liberals want to do (Fibre to the node and copper to premises). Liberals plan is ridiculous and we wouldn't be any better off than we are now, possibly worse as we wont get subsidised satellite. The further from the node the more the signal is degraded. We're a long fucking way from anywhere.
How are Australian businesses located anywhere other than the middle of the capital cities meant to compete with the rest of the world? Optic fibre all the way would allow rural and isolated schools and students to connect with other schools for projects it would allow people in rural and isolated areas to use skype services to consult with specialists in the city without having to drive for a day or more.

* A Toy Maker Makes A Toy Maker by Doktor A. "It is glorious! Just look at the intricate detail of this robot toy maker making more toys at his trusty workbench with a plethora of spectacles. The tiny details, from the miniature glass dome to the tiny bench clamp are absolutely fantastic." Gorgeously steampunk as usual from Doktor A. I love his stuff.

Friday, July 12, 2013

I spent yesterday ordering some more business cards. We have just run out of the first lot of mini cards we ordered from Moo.com. Two sided business cards at half the size of a normal card so you get twice as many.

On one side is our business information and on the other is my photographs. A different picture on each card.

It was the printfinity option that made me choose Moo in the first place. It really makes the cards stand out. Each one a tiny piece of art.

I was really happy with the quality of the printing. The cards are lovely and the price isn't bad even with postage from the UK.
At the moment Moo have a sale on. 30% off all printing.
the MOO sale is ending at 11.59pm BST on 13th July so you'd need to get in quickly.

I have a referral code that if you use it and sign up, I get $4 credit and you get 15% off. I'm not sure if that works while the sale is on. Check it out first.

Sorting out all the pictures to fit the templates was a bit fiddly and my really slow internet didn't play that well with the flash website but it was defintely worth it. Moo have a fairly comprehensive FAQ and get back to questions pretty quickly.

They also have a fantastic range of pre designed cards you can choose from if you don't want to do it yourself.

We also got our postcard photography prints done with Moo and they are gorgeous. Hoping to get some nifty round stickers and some greeting cards done soon too.

If you've been thinking about getting some cards done take this oppertunity to get in on the sale and if you could use my referrer code that would be fantastic.

A little competition today as a thank you to followers on my new Facebook page.
When my Facebook page reaches 50 likes I will randomly choose a follower to win a postcard sized print of my cover photo right now.
Clarke St, Hill End in the snow. http://www.facebook.com/WallflowerArts

Please share with your friends.

If you don't have a Facebook account and would still like to enter then leave a comment on this post and make sure I have a way to contact you and you will be entered into the draw too.

"Dartmoor’s landscape is steeped in magic and mystery and it is home to many artists whose work is inspired by mythic themes. Widdershins showcases the work of those who live on Dartmoor (or have local connections) Widdershins explores local legends, world myth, folklore and faery tales in diverse, surprising ways... and although it all starts ‘Once Upon a Time’, it is definitely not for children only."

This is the sort of stuff I'd love to draw and sculpt and bring in to my work but I am so far removed from the landscape that is linked with British Folk Law.
I feel a real connection with the land out here but the myths and legends out here are either still set in European landscapes or they are Aboriginal law and to create with those is appropriation.

How do I work with Myth, Legend and the spirit of the land I live in without being disrespectful to the people that were here long before? How do I work with my cultural heritage when living and connecting with a land that is so vastly removed?

I can make up new stuff on my own, I know, but there is something about working with legends and myth that goes back thousands of years, that other people connect with and have connected with.

I sit here in this ghost town of a gold village and I spin yarn from wool straight off a sheep. I embroider artworks with needle and cloth. I light my fire and sit by it's warmth. These things were done by women in this spot since the 1850s. These slow ways of being, of creating, of living are something that connects me to the history of this place but I want to create art based on the spirits of this place, on the mix of landscape and imagination that brings the place to life.

Water here is precious. Sun is plentiful and in summer it is dangerous. Summer is not the warm, pleasant, plentiful time of joy that it often is in England where I was born. Winter isn't ice and snow and a baron land.
This village, at 850m above sea level and the other side of the Great Dividing Range from the coast is the closest I come to the weather and plant life I was born in to in Easbourne, Sussex, England.

We have milder summers and much colder winters than the coast. We have lots of European trees planted in the village. We actually get a proper Autumn here where all the leaves change.

Within a short walking distance though it's back to Gum trees and Wattle, which I love, but it is green all year round, or at least our version of green witch is really fairly grey. Summer is drought and heat and storms. It's fire and floods and sun that burns everything brown and grey and brittle. It's full of flies and mosquitoes, snakes and spiders. It's certainly not a green and plentiful time.

We get a few days a year of 40c. Much less than we did on the coast but still awful. We get some winter nights at -6c. Much colder than the coast but we've only had one decent snow fall where it stuck. And even that was gone by morning.

We get less water and more floods. This land is a harsh and dangerous paradise. It's hard work and red dust and wide open spaces. It's coal and steel and gold. It's sheep and cattle and kangaroos that well outnumber the people. It is beautiful and harsh and so very, very old but at the same time it's brand new.

I want to make art to reflect that, to connect to this land that lives and breaths with me. To show others the savage beauty and the things you can't always see. The things that were and the things that weren't and the things that are.

I have been considering paintings that show European myths and legends in an Australian landscape and how out of place they look.
I want to go and sit out in the bush and take photos and draw the things I don't see. I want to needle felt creatures that fit within our landscape but don't exist and the ones that do.
In a less literal sense I want to spin wool dyed with the plants and ochres of where I live.

Now to find the time, space and money to make a start on this. Not sure I have enough of any of those to get much done any time soon though. I have only the space of my arm chair and the small amount of time when my health lets me think and do at the same time. Money is even more scarce at the moment.

Monday, July 8, 2013

Finally got fast enough internet that I could finish building our Facebook page.
It's a bit bare at the moment but it will fill up soon. The header for this month is an old but appropriate photo of Hill End in the snow in 2011. No snow yet this year but this morning was the coldest morning of the year.

OTHER

* Vanilla Rooibos Fig Newtons I am so making these. Gluten Free-ish if you can handle the wheat free oats and low carb. I have everything in my kitchen to make these. Just need the time.

* Ruff justice for jail program. Known as Dogs for Diggers, the program takes dogs that have been abandoned – and are often destined for death row – and puts them in the care of inmates who look after them and train them back to full health and obedience.Once the dogs are ready, they are given to injured soldiers to help them with their rehabilitation.

About Me

Emma and Ruth live with their pets in a tiny pre 1870's cottage in the remote mining town of Hill End, central west NSW.
Surrounded by books, wool, fruit trees, animals and the beautiful red clays and Australian Bush there is much to inspire them.
They both use creating and art as a way to deal with chronic illnesses and disability and to bring beauty and happiness into the world.
The need to create has always been a part of both of them and their focus at the moment has been on knitting, spinning, needle felting, crochet, photography, dyeing and beaded jewellery